21.2722, Calls: Semantics, Syntax/Germany

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LINGUIST List: Vol-21-2722. Fri Jun 25 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.2722, Calls: Semantics, Syntax/Germany

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1)
Date: 23-Jun-2010
From: Werner Frey < frey at zas.gwz-berlin.de >
Subject: Inner-sentential Propositional Pro-forms
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:37:58
From: Werner Frey [frey at zas.gwz-berlin.de]
Subject: Inner-sentential Propositional Pro-forms

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Full Title: Inner-sentential Propositional Pro-forms 

Date: 23-Feb-2011 - 25-Feb-2011
Location: Göttingen, Germany 
Contact Person: Kerstin Schwabe
Meeting Email: schwabe at zas.gwz-berlin.de
Web Site: http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/workshop_proforms.html 

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics; Syntax 

Call Deadline: 15-Aug-2010 

Meeting Description:

Inner-sentential Propositional Pro-forms: Syntactic Properties and 
Interpretative Effects

Workshop organised as part of the Annual Conference of the German 
Linguistic Society (DGfS) to be held in Göttingen, Germany, February 23-
25, 
2011

Organisers: Werner Frey, André Meinunger, Kerstin Schwabe (ZAS, Berlin)

Propositional pro-elements that relate to clauses within complex sentences 
as in the German examples i. to iii. are a topic that arises in different 
languages and that holds a lot of open questions within nearly all domains 
of 
grammar. 

i.   
Fred hat's    /es  akzeptiert, [dass Eva nach Rom fährt]. 
Fred has'it-CL/it  accepted    that  Eva   to  Rom goes

ii.  
Fred hat  das  akzeptiert, [dass Eva nach Rom fährt]. 
Fred has that  accepted    that  Eva  to   Rom goes

iii. 
Fred wird es bedauern, [wenn Eva nach Rom fährt]. 
Fred will it  regret   if   Eva   to  Rom goes
 
In the literature sometimes (Pütz 1986, Sudhoff 2003) three types of pro-
forms are distinguished: i. 'Platzhalter' (place holders), which are 
phonologically reducible and which seem to replace their clausal correlate 
in the argument position, ii. 'Bezugselemente' (relating elements), which are 
not reducible and which may form a constituent together with their clausal 
correlate, and iii. proper pro-forms, which can neither be regarded as place 
holders nor as relating elements (cf. for German, e.g. Breindl 1989, and, 
diachronically, Axel 2009).

The workshop aims to contribute to the most challenging issues arising in 
this area, some of them stemming from longstanding, yet not satisfyingly 
explained observations; e.g.: What are the syntactic relations between the 
pro-elements and their clausal correlates? Why are certain pro-elements 
obligatorily present in the IP-domain with the related clause moved to the 
front whereas other pro-elements are illegitimate (e.g. Fabricius-Hansen 
1980, Sternefeld 2006):

iv. 
a. Wenn Eva nicht kommt, wird *(es) Fred sehr bedauern.
    When Eva not comes   will   it   Fred  very regret
    'If Eva will not come, Fred will regret this very much.'
b.Dass Eva nicht kommen kann, bedauert/sagt (*es) Fred.
   That  Eva not  come   can  regrets /says  (*it) Fred
   'Fred regrets/says that Eva cannot come.'
c. *(Darüber), dass Udo kam, hat   sich    Fred (*darüber) gefreut.
     About-it  that Udo came has himself  Fred  about-it  be-glad
    'That Udo came - Fred was very glad about this'

Why can certain pro-elements be left behind under 'VP-topicalisation,' but 
others cannot?

v.  
a. Interessiert, ob Max gewonnen hat, hat es mich sehr.
    Interested  if  Max  won    has   has it  me  very
    'I was very keen on knowing whether Max had won.'
b.*Behauptet, dass Max gewonnen hat, hat es Eva oft.
     Claimed  that  Max   won   has  has it Eva often
    'Eva often claimed that Max had won.'

Why do pro-forms usually block extraction out of the associated clause? 
Which matrix predicates select which pro-forms, and why? What are the 
contributions of the pro-forms to the semantics or to the information 
structural properties of the constructions (cf. Schwabe & Fittler 2009)?

Such questions and related ones are addressed to researchers involved in 
this topic synchronically and diachronically. Given the research tradition of 
pronoun-clause linkage for languages other than German, we encourage 
prospective speakers to contribute to the workshop with respect to the 
issues raised above. We think of languages as close as Dutch (Bennis 
1987) and English (cf. the classic Postal & Pullum 1988), but also as 
different as Hungarian (e.g., de Cuba & Ürögdi 2010). 

Call for Papers

Abstract submission: 
 
Proposals are invited for 30-minute talks (including discussion). Abstracts 
should be anonymous and confined to two pages (including examples and 
references) not smaller than 12-point font.

Abstracts should be sent to: 
schwabe at zas.gwz-berlin.de 
 
The subject of the message should specify 'Abstract', and the body should 
include the following information:  
- Author's Name(s) and Contact Information  
- Affiliation  
- Title of the Abstract  
- E-mail Address  
 
Upon acceptance, authors will be asked to submit a named, camera-ready 
abstract.  
 
Submission Deadline: August 15, 2010

Contact person: Kerstin Schwabe
schwabe at zas.gwz-berlin.de





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